Free Republic

A Durham, New Hampshire celebration scheduled for the beginning of holidays is undergoing some changes this year in an effort to remove religious overtones. Formerly called the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony, the newly named Frost Fest will include the absence of a formal tree lighting. Santa will be at the event but he will not arrive in a town firetruck as he has in the past. The wreaths that traditionally adorned lamp posts on Main Street will also not be present this year. Town Councilor Sally Tobias says the changes came about after some controversy last holiday season. “There was...

A battle is brewing in Wisconsin and you can weigh in with other Americans to stop this War on Christmas Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers does not like a Christmas tree being called a Christmas tree. So he is changing it. According to a Washington Post article, Gov. Evers has said the Christmas tree in the Capitol rotunda, as of this year, will be called a "holiday" tree. Thus the War on Christmas continues. Those like Gov. Evers don't like the fact that the Christmas tree is identified with the Christian faith. Republican Scott Fitzgerald, the state Senate majority leader and...

Principal who banned candy canes won’t return to school: superintendent By Nicole Darrah, Fox News 2-3 minutes January 17, 2019 | 1:57am | Updated January 17, 2019 | 9:33am An elementary school principal who was placed on leave after she allegedly banned Christmas and holiday decorations will reportedly not return to her old job. Jennifer Sinclair, principal of Manchester Elementary in Omaha, Nebraska, was placed on administrative leave in December, the Elkhorn School District confirmed to Fox News at the time. District superintendent Bary Habrock reportedly told parents and school staff on Monday that Sinclair will not be returning to...

NBC News has finally, a full day after being called out for printing the fake news, admitted that its article published on Christmas alleging President Donald Trump snubbed the troops during the holidays this year is incorrect. NBC has altered its headline and story, changing their meaning to remove the original anti-Trump thrust, and added an extended editor’s note beyond the original editor’s note appended when it was first discovered to be an inaccurate piece. The new editor’s note admits in no uncertain terms that NBC News printed fake news, and that it was only leaving the article up in...

The birth of Jesus, which is celebrated on Christmas Day, occurred without his having a biological father. State owned SVT, however, has solved the mystery of the virgin birth. Jesus or Virgin Mary may have been transsexual, they reason. Was Jesus born as a girl? SVT asks and believes they have found support for that theory in science. SVT’s claim is not the Biblical account of the virgin birth, but that Mary became pregnant with Joseph or someone else. But the highly biased, left-wing channel has launched a more gender-modern theory: A phenomenon known as parthenogenesis. It occurs among algae,...

U.S. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. wished her Twitter followers a Merry Christmas Tuesday by referring to the newborn Jesus as a "refugee." "Joy to the World!" Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "Merry Christmas everyone - here’s to a holiday filled with happiness, family, and love for all people. (Including refugee babies in mangers + their parents.)" Mary and Joseph are not depicted as refugees in the Nativity story. According to the Gospel of Luke, Joseph brings the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem so that he may enroll in a census ordered by the Roman emperor Agustus. The couple are forced to take shelter in...

...brown paper can be made into a beautiful wrapping option, especially when spruced up with a sprig of evergreen, a dehydrated orange slice...

While poor Bilal Hassam is beset by “Islamophobia,” here are some recent news items from the real world:Benedict Kiely Real Clear Politics reported last Tuesday that Christians in Iraq face a new threat from “Popular Mobilization Units,” who in the town of Karamles, near Mosul, recently blocked a road that led to a church, preventing the congregation from going to the church, and “also strafed the church with gunfire.” Kiely added that the local priest “told me that this was the second time his church had been attacked in the last nine months. One of the militiamen held a handgun...

Just imagine the New York Times publishing an article entitled “What a Christian Could Teach Supporters of the Saudi Crown Prince About Jesus,” or “What a Christian Could Teach Supporters of the Ayatollah Khamenei About Jesus.” This is not to compare Trump either to the Saudi Crown Prince or the Iranian Supreme Leader, although many Leftists are so deranged regarding Trump that they would endorse such comparisons with relish. The point I’m making, on the other hand, is that the New York Times editors would rather have their teeth pulled out with rusty pliers than ever to publish an article...

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Holiday revelers were shocked to see a woman in a hoodie attempt to set the featured Christmas tree on fire at Sundance Square this weekend. She lit a piece of paper, tossed it toward the massive tree then used an accelerant as stunned onlookers watched. Luckily though, “Nothing was actually lit on fire,” said Fort Worth police Sgt. Chris Britt. One witness posted video (before knowing the woman’s gender) of the whole thing on Facebook saying, “Sarah Chretien and I were talking a picture right next to this guy before we realized what on earth he...

The local fire department for the French city confirmed the casualties early on Tuesday evening The area has been cordoned off and trams have stopped running in the popular tourist destination The gunman had previously been shot by a soldier near the Christmas market and then fled the scene It is not yet clear if the market was a target of the attack or if there was any links to terrorism The Strasbourg-based European Parliament was on lockdown after reports of the shooting emerged Police have said they know the identity of the suspected gunman

For those looking to an alternative to SantaCon, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a perfect idea. The U.S. Representative-elect for New York’s 14th congressional district — who at 29 is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress — tweeted a new option to anyone uninterested in participating in the annual holiday pub crawl featuring attendees dressed in Christmas costumes. Asked by New York Times reporter Liam Stack if she could “pass a law stopping santacon,” Ocasio-Cortez joked, “I’m not sure, but maybe we can look into establishing GrinchCon — a tea + coffee crawl where people can spread peace and quiet everywhere...

Between a Christmas tree and a menorah display in the Illinois state capitol, a statue from the Satanic Temple is standing for the holiday season. The display shows an apple upheld by an arm which has been encircled by a snake. The words “Knowledge is the greatest gift” is written across the front of the black base. The satanic tribute was erected at the statehouse rotunda in Springfield. Near the display is an explanation from the local government. “The State of Illinois is required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to allow temporary, public displays in the...

Well, it’s time for a good Christmas rant. This requires a rant, because every year, we see the same ignorant silliness. (Sorry, but it’s just true.) Supposedly, Christmas is secretly pagan, secretly syncretist, secretly a co-opting of pagan stuff and ignorantly claiming it to be Christian. But the truth about these things is so available that it’s literally staring out at you even from Wikipedia. Well, if you are one of the people who says this stuff, I’ve got a lot of problems with you people. Let the airing of grievances begin. (And it’s not even Festivus yet!)

Commentary: Canada's CBC is the latest radio outlet to ban "Baby" as offensive. Who to believe — radio programmers, or actual feminists? There is one group, and one group only, that should be crusading against the performance of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in public: vicious maiden aunts. These treacherous protectors of niece-ly chastity have no coalition in 2018, so far as we’ve heard. (Speak up and say your piece if you’re out there, Auntie Lame Society.). So the campaign against Frank Loesser’s 1940s classic has been left to others — not so much feminists, as rumored, since most who’ve thought...

It’s the Christmas season again, which means it’s time for the annual debate. Well, actually, it’s time for several annual debates: Is “Happy Holidays” a valid greeting, or is it the sign of a Liberal War on Christmas? Is Wham’s “Last Christmas” the GOAT of Christmas songs, or is it a cheesy artifact that should have been left in the 1980s with parachute pants and bleached bangs? Now that we survived the discomfort of avoiding political discussions with Uncle Frank at Thanksgiving dinner, do we really have to do it again at Christmas? What should Starbucks put on their cups?...

The holidays are here, which means it’s time to debate whether or not the lyrics to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” are creepy or just crappy and annoying. According to CNN, Star 102, WDOK-FM, a Cleveland Christmas radio station has decided it won’t be playing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” this year. The 74-year-old song by “Guys and Dolls” writer Frank Loesser is also known on Urban Dictionary as the “Christmas Date Rape Song.”On the station’s website, radio host Glenn Anderson explained that the song is no longer appropriate for #MeToo era: “Now, I do realize that when the song was written...

Atheists are fighting the war FOR Christmas? Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, and other traditions were blended centuries ago to form Christmas, and embellished with fairy tales and fables into the rich secular modern celebration we have today.See for yourself at http://atheistchristmas.org/ Values like joy, peace, sharing, and celebration are not limited to one faith or culture in December. The foundations of Christmas may be mythological, but the Spirit of Christmas is universal. Keep the Merry, without the Myths!

She doesn’t just deserve a lump of coal in her stocking, she should get a whole trainload! A bah-humbug New Jersey substitute teacher shattered the hearts of a class of first-graders by telling them Santa Claus and his eight reindeer weren’t real — and then it got a lot worse. “She proceeded to just completely unleash on them,’’ said stunned parent Lisa Simek, whose daughter Emilia was in the class at Cedar Hill School in Montville, on Facebook. “She told them Santa isn’t real and parents just buy presents and put them under their tree. “She told them reindeer can’t...

SAN JOSE (KPIX) — The South Bay’s biggest holiday celebration appears to have fallen victim to thieves after someone robbed ornaments off a tree at Christmas in the Park in San Jose that had its decorations sponsored by a local Satanic group. The crime happened just two days after the tree went up with the thieves apparently targeting a specific tree. The tree targeted was decorated with pentagrams and other demonic symbols, its decorations sponsored by a Bay Area Satanic organization. Some may wonder why a Satanic group would have a decorated tree at a holiday display like Christmas...